Gavin Newsom plays ball with Brown on the budget

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, February 5, 2011

Photo: Steve Yeater, AP

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Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, introduces Gov. Jerry Brown, center, before Brown's State of the State address during a joint session of the California legislature at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 31, 2011. At the right is Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. less

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, introduces Gov. Jerry Brown, center, before Brown's State of the State address during a joint session of the California legislature at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., on Monday, ... more

Photo: Steve Yeater, AP

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Will Sutter Brown be the First Dog?

Will Sutter Brown be the First Dog?

Photo: Steve Glazer

Gavin Newsom plays ball with Brown on the budget

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We've all been wondering how Gov. Jerry Brown and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom would get along, given their history. We're here to report that it appears Newsom is going to be a good Democratic soldier when it comes to the budget - at least if the past week is any indication.

The former San Francisco mayor, you may remember, had hoped to become governor himself way back in 2009, until his campaign flailed and he dropped out. Now Newsom is just a heartbeat away from the office, but it's not entirely clear whether the former rivals have patched things up.

Things didn't start off too smoothly - Newsom raised eyebrows Jan. 19 when during his first University of California regents meeting (the lieutenant governor always sits on the UC and California State University boards) he suggested the university challenge the $500 million in cuts Brown has proposed.

But less than two weeks later, Newsom was far more complimentary as he introduced the governor before Monday's State of the State address:

"This is an honest and realistic budget that doesn't fall on one person, one party or one level of government," Newsom said. "We all own this, and together we must muster the courage to step up and see the bigger picture and encourage everybody in the state to be part of the solution."

Later in the week, the California Democratic Party released a video, starring Newsom, in which he asks for help from the public "on behalf of the governor," to solve the state's fiscal crisis, which he called a "colossal task."

So what gives? Well, when we caught up with the "lite gov" after the State of the State, he told us that while he doesn't love everything in the governor's proposal, he gets where Brown is coming from - especially as a former mayor who had to play bad cop when it came to cuts in the city by the bay.

But Newsom also made clear that he plans on being part of the budget conversation, particularly on issues such as redevelopment that he's well versed in.

"I think I've been very supportive of the tough decisions the governor has had to make ... that doesn't mean that redevelopment and other issues shouldn't be a point of reflection," he said. "Democrats, not just Republicans, need to step up. ... We all own this, and we all need to be part of the solution."

Different parties, divergent points of view: You never know what you're going to see on the Assembly floor. We witnessed an interesting debate Monday night between Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, and Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert (Riverside County), that really got to the core philosophical differences between Republicans and Democrats.

The two politicos were being interviewed after Brown's State of the State speech when they started going back and forth over whether lawmakers should ask voters to weigh in on tax extensions. We don't have room for everything they said, so here's our summary of their basic points:

Hill: We should ask the voters' opinions when there's a major policy shift or big changes in how we govern. Therefore, we should ask voters about tax extensions.

Nestande: Cities, counties and school districts have made cuts, not increased taxes, in recent years to balance their budgets. Why should the state be any different? And we don't have a direct democracy, we have a republic. The Legislature was elected to make the tough decisions, and voters won't support tax increases anyway.

Hill: They are not tax increases, they are tax extensions. And yes, they will support them, if they care about the programs. My constituents have supported parcel taxes on themselves to pay for schools recently.

Nestande: Well, mine haven't.

And there you have it. Keep in mind - these two actually like one another.

First doggie update: As readers of this column's premiere last week already know, a certain Pembroke Welsh corgi is in the running to become California's first dog. Brown and his wife, Anne Gust Brown, are "trying out" Sutter, who belongs to the governor's sister, Kathleen Brown.

Well, no word yet from the first family as to whether Sutter's going to become a permanent fixture at the Capitol. But he does have his own Twitter feed, @SutterBrown. The tagline: "I'm hoping to be California's first dog."

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